


roll credits!

by adashofhope



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: F/M, Married Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-08-26 12:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16681525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adashofhope/pseuds/adashofhope
Summary: what comes after happily ever after?





	1. the all consuming thought

**_Wednesday, 2/6/2025_ **

**_3: 07 am_ **

 

It’s become some sort of sick routine that they didn’t even realise they were stuck in. 

 

Wake up at 7 am. 

Get ready for work.

Get a blanket for Peter because it’s too cold in the living room (where he’s knocked out on the couch, as usual.)

Kiss him on the forehead.

Go to work. 

Come back at 10. 

Talk to him about his day as he’s suiting up for patrol. (Usually, there’s less talking and more kissing.)

Eat dinner alone. 

Sleep.

 

In a whole week, they probably only say like 20 sentences to each other. 

 

This isn’t right. 

 

This isn’t what marriage is about, right? If this was the difference between dating and getting married, she hates to say it but...she would’ve never said yes. 

 

They rarely speak to each other anymore. Hell, she’s sure all they do is kiss. She doesn’t tell Peter about the crazy stuff that goes down at work anymore. He doesn’t talk about his day anymore. She’s pretty sure the first thing he’s said to her all week was that they were out of cereal, and it’s Wednesday! She should know better than to expect some sort of dream marriage, like in the movies and in the books but…

 

But she can’t help but think, if they were living in some sort of rom-com, this part of her life would be the montage with cheesy music playing in the background of them living happily ever after together. They’d brush their teeth together, she’d straighten his tie and give him one kiss goodbye before they go their separate ways for work, she’d get home and he’d unrealistically arrive a second later with takeout, they’d eat dinner together and talk about their respective days and kiss and repeat. That’s what marriage is! This should be her happily ever after, right?

 

Then, why does she feel so alone?

 

Suddenly, her bed feels very empty. Just as she’s burning holes into the side of the bed where Peter should be, she hears him stumble into the apartment. Unlike her loud and clumsy husband, she quietly puts on her jacket and walks out of the bedroom. 

 

She’s surprised to see Peter wide awake on the couch. He’s still in his suit, he’s only taken his mask off. Normally, it takes him 2 minutes to change out of his suit and to knock out on the couch. 

 

He turns to look at her just as she’s walking in. He makes a noise which she assumes is a greeting. 

 

“You’re still up?” he says, pressing the spider symbol on his chest and the tight black and red suit immediately loosens around his body.

 

“I- yes,” she says, slowly walking to the couch. “Can’t sleep,” she smiles softly.

 

He nods, standing a little to get the suit off of his body. He folds it carefully and sets it on the table in front of them just as she’s thinking of something to say, just so that it isn’t quiet. 

 

And then somehow, they’re kissing again and her jacket is somewhere on the couch. 

 

“Hey, why were you wearing a jacket?” he says, in between kisses. “Is the heater broken?”

 

“No, no- uh,” she gives him one final peck and pulls away as she reaches for her jacket behind her. “I was going to go out for a walk.”

 

And it’s out of her mouth before she even knows it.

 

“I ran out of tampons. I was going to go get them.”

 

Peter blinks and looks around the room for the digital clock they have on the kitchen counter. She watches as he snaps out of his dreamlike state of being. “At 3:47 am? W-What, are you on your period right now?”

 

“No, it’s just- I’m all out of tampons and I’m supposed to get it- my period tomorrow,” she says, as she slips on her jacket. 

 

“Oh hey, I’ll go get them for you.”

 

“It’s fine,” she says, standing up and brushing the curls that are stuck to his forehead. “You should get some sleep anyway.”

 

He nods, and falls back on the couch, ready to fall asleep. 

 

“No,” she says, grabbing his hand and pulling him up. “Your back is going to hurt. Go use the bed that you rarely sleep in for once.”

 

Something about that sentence bothers her and she glances at him to see if he noticed it too but he just nods groggily and stumbles into the bedroom. 

 

“Night,” she calls out after him. 

 

He just mumbles a string of incoherent words in response and she nods ironically, walking out of the apartment. She doesn’t make it to the 24 hour convenience store that’s 3 blocks from their apartment. Instead, she settles into a couch at their lobby and pretends to read a magazine. The security guard, Larry -whom she knows because of Peter’s tendency to become friends with everyone he sees- speaks, “Trouble with the missus?”

 

It’s a joke.

 

She knows he doesn’t mean any harm, but still it mildly irritates her. 

 

_ It bothers you because it’s the truth. _

 

It’s not the truth. She refuses to believe that there’s anything wrong with her marriage. She’s perfectly fine and she’s happy. She’s happy with it. There’s nothing wrong. They’re fine, she’s fine.

 

Still, she doesn’t move to get back to the apartment, into bed with him for the first time in months. She rolls her eyes at herself. She needs to stop thinking like that. 

 

She busies herself with reading the magazine. After reading it for the first time and then reading all the articles she skipped the first time, she finally makes her way up. As soon as she slides under the covers, she feels his arm wrap around her waist almost immediately. 

 

And they’re going to be alright. 

 

They’re okay. 

 

They’re fine.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


 

 

 

 

 

 

They’re not fine.

 

It happens at exactly 8:26 am for both of them.

 

She’s already at work. She’s in the middle of typing when it hits her.

  
  


It doesn’t necessarily hit him like a brick. 

 

He’s leaving for work and he stops to say hello to their friendly security guard, Larry. Larry strikes up conversation but about a topic they’ve never talked about before, “How’s your wife, Pete?”

 

“My wife.” Peter repeats. “MJ? She’s fine, why?”

 

“Is everything ok between you two?” Larry’s still smiling and Peter’s trying to keep the smile on his face.

 

“Is everything ok, Larry?’

 

“It’s just that last night, she came down here for nearly an hour and just sat there,” he says pointing to the sofa at the lobby.

 

“Right. I knew about that. She told me about that. Thanks for checking in, Larry.” Peter nods. 

 

“Great. I’m happy everything’s okay.” Larry’s smile is genuine.

 

Peter smiles and leaves the building. 

  
  
  


**_Thursday, 3/6/2025_ **

**_8:26 am_ **

 

She’s broken her vows. She’s told the first lie of the marriage. The thought eats her up inside and she shoves it into a corner, promising herself never to revisit the thought again. They’re fine. 

 

It irks him more than it should. He convinces himself that it isn’t even a lie and she was probably just too tired. Even if it was a lie, it doesn’t matter because it’s nothing. It’s no big deal. He distracts himself by thinking of his project at Stark Industries. They’re fine. 


	2. the best couple in the world

**_Saturday, 4/6/2024_ **

**_9:15 am_ **

Peter rubs at his eyes as he enters the living room, “MJ? What are you doing up so early?”

 

She stops typing away on her laptop for half a second to give him a look that says, ‘Whaddya think?’

 

“Rise and shine, loser.” 

 

“Damn,” Peter says, lazily walking to the kitchen and getting one of the mugs from the cabinet. “I thought we outgrew the ‘loser’ phase.”

 

“I outgrew it,” she says, not taking her eyes off her computer screen once. “You didn’t.”

 

Peter chuckles, and then the loud stirring of his coffee fills in for the silence (other than MJ’s obnoxiously fast and somewhat satisfying typing, of course).

 

Peter stops the stirring and taps his teaspoon against his coffee mug twice before leaving it in the sink. He takes long strides to walk over to her and she speaks, “It’s too early for you to be making this much noise.”

 

He takes a sip of coffee from his mug as he sits down next to her on the couch and squints at her computer screen, “Isn’t it too early for...work...things?”

 

“It’s never too early for work things, Spider-Man,” she says, reminding him of the time he decided to go patrolling at 6 am and he accidentally woke her up.

 

“Point, Jones,” he says, taking one final sip of coffee before loudly setting his mug down on the coffee table. 

 

“Really, Peter? One of these days, I just know you’re gonna break that table with your-” she stops when she tears her gaze from her computer screen to glare at him but sees the mug he’s using.

 

It was an average mug. Except, it had a photo of the two of them from the time she lost a bet with Ned and he made them wear matching pajamas to bed. On the other side of the mug, it said ‘Mr and Mrs Michelle Jones’ in cheesy font. She’d gotten that mug done as a joke engagement gift for Peter and he’d been using it ever since. 

 

She tries really hard to fight the smile that’s growing on her face. She rolls her eyes and smiles down at her keyboard, “You’re a loser.”

  
  
  


**_Saturday, 13/6/2025_ **

**_9 am_ **

The smell of burnt pancakes make her stir in her sleep. The light coming in through the windows force her eyes open. Her eyebrows are furrowed and she’s already glaring at the windows. Her gaze travels to the person standing by the windows, holding the curtains away and letting the light in. 

 

“Why?” she questions groggily, falling over onto her bed.

 

“Because,” Peter sets the plate of burnt pancakes on the bedside table because he knows she hates having food anywhere inside the bedroom, or well, near her when she’s in bed. “You promised May that we’d have breakfast with her today.”

 

That’s when she realises that he’s turned the heat all the way up and covered her in additional blankets, “So, instead of waking me up like a regular, loving husband, you decided to make me all sweaty and uncomfortable?”

 

Peter looks at her as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

 

“Fine,” she grumbles, shoving the blankets away from her with all her strength. “Give me a half hour.”

 

Peter nods, warning her that he’s just going to leave without her if she takes any longer and she rolls her eyes.

  
  
  


She ends up taking 45 minutes and when she’s done, he’s nowhere to be found. She picks up her phone that’s on the nightstand, right next to the half-eaten burnt pancakes because that’s how her weirdo husband likes his pancakes, and prepares to shoot him a text, only to see that she already has a dozen from him.

 

_ mr jones-parker: i had to go _

_ mr jones-parker: spidey emergency at 86th street _

_ mr jones-parker: west _

_ mr jones-parker: also may’s at a baby shower but she’ll be back in an hour so there’s no rush _

_ mr jones-parker: love u _

_ mr jones-parker: Karen, activate Taser Webs! _

 

That last one was probably accidental. She gets a lot of those from Peter, so much so that she knows when he gets upgrades on his suit. She’d ask him about it when he’d get home and they’d usually have a long conversation about it but-

 

But nothing. They aren’t teenagers anymore. There’s nothing wrong with them if they don’t obsess over his suit and all of its upgrades anymore. People grow up. That’s normal.

 

She arrives at Peter’s old apartment before May does and decides to make herself some tea while she waits for May. It reminds her of when they were first crushing on each other back in high school and she found loads of tea in his kitchen the first time she came over to his apartment. May embarrassed him by telling her how he’d been trying to love tea ever since he became friends with her and she remembers it all so clearly. Peter’s flushed cheeks, Ned pausing his video game and coming to a realisation about Peter’s crush on her, and a tiny bit of hope crawling into her 17 year-old heart and her having to push it down because she was convinced there was no chance in hell he’d ever feel the same way. 

 

Just then, she gets a call from Peter. She answers it, “Hey.”

 

“I’m ok. It was just a mugging,” he says, and she knows he means it genuinely because he’d promised her once, a long time ago to always give her updates on every single one of his encounters as Spider-Man and he still keeps up to it now.

 

“Good. Does that mean you’ll be coming to May’s now?”

 

“Uh, that’s why I called, actually. I bumped into Ned and Betty and we’re just getting coffee. I’m going to try to get them to join us for breakfast, if they’re not being all gross and couple-y.”

 

“Damn. After all these years and they’re still like that,” she says and she detects a hint of longing in her voice which is why she clears her throat immediately. “Gross. Tell them I said hi.”

 

“I will.”

 

And he does something that he hasn’t done in a long time. Or well, since they were in college. She doesn’t know if it’s because of her comment about Ned and Betty keeping the spark alive even after all these years or if it’s just instinct, but he blows her a kiss through the phone. There’s a click, which signals that he’s hung up already. But, she’s still...well, you can’t exactly blame her. It’s been a long time since he’s done that and it brings back all the feelings from when they were young and stupid and obsessed with each other.

 

It’s weirdly nice.

 

And that’s why she has a stupid smile on her face all throughout the day.

 

It’s why she doesn’t take her hands off of him from the minute he steps into the apartment. And it’s also why they do it in Peter’s old room once breakfast is over and high-five each other afterwards because damn it, they’re the best couple in the history of couples and also they’re like,  _ really  _ good at it.

And she really does feel stupid for all of the doubts she was having about them before. Sure, they were in a bit of a rough patch before but now she knows, that all they really need is to remind themselves of how they were back then to keep the spark alive. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was kind of a filler chapter but also important to show you guys that their marriage isn't *always* problematic but this is most definitely not the end and if sweet mj thinks this is what's going to save their marriage then she's got a whole nother thing comin (also the first bit was a flashback)
> 
> (and yes they high-fived because they are That Couple)
> 
> ok bye i love you guys for supporting this fic
> 
> softboyholland on tumblr  
> floofyparker on twitter


	3. silver medal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you like it
> 
> and you know where to find me

**_Saturday, 13/6/2025_ **

**_10:07 am_ **

 

“Dude,” Ned gapes at him. “That’s single-handedly the coolest thing I’ve ever heard.”

 

“Right?!” Peter agrees, his eyes widening just as much as Ned’s.

 

“I gotta know,” Ned says, leaning forward. “What did MJ say about it? Did she freak out? I bet she did. That’s like the coolest feature on your suit!”

 

“I don’t think she knows,” Peter shrugs.

 

“What?” Ned’s smile starts to fade. “But that’s like the thing you guys do.”

 

Peter chuckles, “What? Talk about the cool features on my suit? We haven’t done that in a long time. She’s been busy.”

 

When Ned gives him a look, he laughs, “Ned, buddy, it isn’t some sort of couple-y tradition. It’s just having a conversation...about my suit. If we don’t have the time for that, it doesn’t mean that we’re- that we’re losing our spark or something.”

 

Just as Ned’s about to say something, Betty arrives with their coffee. The conversation pauses temporarily as they all take a sip of their drinks. Peter almost thinks that Ned’s forgotten all about it but Betty restarts it again, “What are we talking about?”

 

Before Ned exaggerates this non-issue into becoming an issue, Peter decides to speak, “Ned thinks that there’s something wrong with my marriage because MJ and I don’t talk about...my job anymore.”

 

“No! You’re telling it all wrong,” Ned shakes his head and puts down his coffee cup. “Peter’s job is interesting because he works at Stark Industries. So, it’s all kinds of awesome. And it just so happens that they do this thing where MJ kind of gives him ideas for his projects and they talk about nerdy things. It’s like, like MJ is his woman-in-the-chair. She’s always been, and she always has to be but now she’s not.”

 

After he’s finished, Betty smiles at him in a way that must mean she thinks his little rant is very amusing. She places a hand on his arm gently, “Ned, I love you, but I did not get a word of that at all.”

 

“I don’t blame you. It’s hard explaining this because it’s all kinds of complicated.”

 

And Peter knows he’s talking about Betty not knowing that he’s Spider-Man. Ned’s been pestering him for a while now, to be able to tell Betty about Spider-Man. With Betty working as J. Jonah Jameson as his secretary, Peter would be the biggest fool to let Ned run along and tell Betty about his secret identity. It’s not that he doesn’t trust Betty-- she’s a great person and he knows she wouldn’t give JJ Jameson the scoop on Spider-Man as soon as she finds out about him. It’s Jameson that he doesn’t trust. That man, is all kinds of shady, and there’s nothing he wants more than to unmask Spider-Man. If Ned tells Betty, it won’t take him long to figure out that there’s something going on and before they know it, he’ll be using his shady connections to figure out who Spider-Man is. All in all, Peter’s getting tired of the Daily Bugle and it’s editor-in-chief who is nothing but a nuisance, so keeping Betty in the dark is the best option.

 

“I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say that the reason why Ned’s all worked up about this is because there’s some nostalgic connection?” she looks at Ned to see if she’s right.

 

Ned shrugs, “But that’s not all! He told me that they don’t have time to even talk to each other!”

 

Peter rolls his eyes, “I didn’t mean it like that, Ned. I still talk to MJ! It’d be crazy if I didn’t talk to my wife!”

 

Ned presses further in his usual nosy way, still unconvinced that Peter isn’t hiding something from him about his marriage, “Fine. When’s the last time you had a conversation with MJ?”

 

Betty senses that this conversation is becoming too real, too fast and that’s why halfway through Ned’s sentence she places a hand on Ned’s forearm and gives him a look. A warning. Both Ned and Peter ignore it, too wrapped up in proving that they’re right.

 

Peter answers almost instantly, “Just this morning.”

 

“What did you talk about?”

 

“I told her to get ready for breakfast with May. I guess I woke her up.”

 

“How long did the conversation last?”

 

“Around 2 minutes?”

 

“Peter!” 

“What?” Peter leans back as Ned leans closer to him. 

 

“That’s not a conversation!” Ned groans. He turns to his fiance, “Betty, tell him that’s not a conversation!”

 

“You know I hate having anything to do with _ this _ conversation, but he’s right,” Betty agrees sympathetically, wrapping her hands around her coffee cup. “Think about it, Pete. I mean,  _ really _ think about it, when was the last time you had an actual conversation with MJ?”

 

And so he does. 

  
  
  


**_Monday, 28/5/2025_ **

**_2 am_ **

 

Peter has one foot in the apartment and the other outside the window. She’s on the couch and she’s switching between channels on the TV aimlessly. Slowly, he steps into the apartment and closes the window behind him. He looks at her expectantly, but she remains silent.

 

“Bank robbery. No big deal,” he shrugs, taking his mask off as he walks into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

 

“Cool,” she finally speaks, switching off the TV. She stands up and stares at him, her gaze following him as he fills up his glass with water. 

 

And it’s silent. 

 

But then suddenly, “I’m tired of always being in second place.”

 

That earns her a double take. 

 

“What’s going on?” Peter says gently, abandoning his glass of water and moving to the living room.

 

“I’ve been in second place my whole life. You know that. I’ve always been in second place when it comes to stuff in my family. My parents always favored my brother more, you’ve seen it for yourself. What did I get in school? I was the salutatorian. Hell, I’ve been working my ass off at work and I’m still the second choice to my boss. The last place that I expected to be treated like a second choice, was here. With you.”

 

That makes Peter scrunch up his eyebrows in confusion and shake his head wildly, “MJ, you’ve always been my number one. You know that.”

 

When she doesn’t respond, he repeats himself, “You know that, don’t you?”

 

She pulls away from him and walks away, shaking her head. “I’m not your number one, Peter! That suit is!” she says, gesturing wildly at him and the suit he has on. 

 

“M-My suit,” he looks down at his suit and chuckles. “MJ, if you seriously think I care more about my suit than-”

 

“God,” she groans, covering her face in her hands. “Why aren’t you hearing me, Peter? I’m tired of coming in second place to Spider-Man!”

 

She watches as his features change and his grin is immediately replaced with a frown, “Michelle, you know I-”

 

“I know, Peter! And I wish it didn’t bother me, but it does! I can’t keep pretending to be okay with the fact that you sneak out every night after work to go fight crime because you’ve got it stuck in your head that it’s your responsibility!”

 

“ _ Pretending? _ ” 

 

“I don’t see you anymore, Peter-”

 

“Right. You don’t see me anymore and my alter ego is entirely to blame. What about your job, Michelle? Your job with insane hours? How do you expect to see me when you practically  _ live  _ in your office where all you do is kiss your boss’ ass?!” Peter fires back. “13 hours, Michelle! You spend 13 hours at your job and you’re blaming it all on me because I spend a few hours  _ at night  _ patrolling the city?”

 

“ _ Blame?  _ I’m not blaming you for anything! Spider-Man is an issue because you’re out there risking your life-”

 

“No,” Peter laughs, and it’s not the kind of laugh that makes her stop and admire him a little. It’s the sarcastic laugh. The one that comes out when he’s frustrated and he’s irritated and-

 

“No, you don’t get to give me that bullshit. I text you everytime it happens and I always give you detailed updates.”

 

She can’t believe her ears, “And that’s supposed to make me stop worrying about you? When your every move is on every news related thing?”

 

“You knew what you were signing up for when we started dating! You can’t possibly tell me that you pretended to be ok with it all this time, all this years.”

 

“I was ok with it! But it’s different now, Peter! We’re married, damn it!”

 

Something in that sentence makes the two of them stop. “Wait,” she says. “This is our first fight as a married couple.” 

 

She searches his face for the ghost of a smile, anything, but she knows all he sees is red. “So, we’re really doing this?” she asks, rolling up the sleeves of his hoodie that she has on. He looks up at her and gives her the tiniest of nods. 

 

And that’s how it carries on for the rest of the night.

 

The fight about her job, about Spider-Man, about everything and it’s the ugliest fight Michelle’s been in her whole life.

  
  
  


**_Sunday, 14/6/2025_ **

**_1:15 am_ **

 

He lies in bed and thinks about his talk with Ned and Betty at the coffee house. There was something wrong with them, he had to admit it. He looks over at MJ, lying on his chest. She had been all over him all throughout breakfast with May and refused to let go of him.

 

He thinks back to the day they had their big fight. 

 

He thinks back to the morning after the fight when they’d made up. 

 

And that’s when it hit him. 

 

He was wrong. He was wrong all this time. In an effort to assure her that everything was going to be okay between them, that morning he’d asked her if she was happy and she nodded. And he’d said: 

 

_ “Good. Because I’m happy.” _

 

Maybe he never realised it at the time, but Michelle didn’t tell the first lie of the marriage. 

 

_ “Good. Because I’m happy.” _

 

He did. 


	4. the answer is ALWAYS communication!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is kind of a filler but all you need to know is that peter is a dumbass and he doesn't know how to deal with the harsh truth when it's shoved into his face and communication has always been something they both sucked at and i was gonna make this a happy chapter but oh well

**_Friday, 19/6/2025_ **

**_5:28 pm_ **

 

Peter’s been all sorts of distant lately. As in giving her one-worded answers, being annoyingly uncomfortable with any sort of affection that she shows him, only staying in the apartment for a maximum of 6 hours daily and never sleeping in the same bed as her.

 

If she was still the same old MJ from high school, she would’ve been hurt. Now, being a wise 26 year-old, she’s decided that she’s not going to take Peter’s shit. Instead of being hurt that he’s basically ignoring her existence, she’s turned her hurt into anger which has somehow brought them into an unspoken fight but without...the actual fight. Right now, they’re in the phase where they try to speak to each other as little as possible and do things passive aggressively to make the other person’s life a little harder. 

 

So, you can imagine why the situation she’s currently in complicates things because she’s in the middle of a non-fight with her ghost of a husband and this makes her look like she’s apologising. Which she isn’t. She’s just doing her big brother a favor. She agreed to babysit her nephew for a couple of days  _ for her brother _ . This isn’t some scheme that’s going to bring them together and if Peter even thinks as much, she’ll make sure he regrets it.

 

And as immature as she knows their entire non-fight is, she isn’t going to be the weak one and cave when she’s done nothing wrong but she figures she owes it to Peter to at least let him know that they’re going to be babysitting her little 2 year-old nephew together so he isn’t surprised when he sees a child running around their apartment. That’s the reason why she’s a few minutes away from entering their apartment where she knows Peter will not be expecting her since she’s usually at work at this hour.

 

The door is unlocked, so she mentally thanks Peter for not making her have to dig through her bag to look for her keys. The lights are all off and the apartment is eerily quiet, especially when someone as unintentionally noisy as Peter is,  _ inside _ said apartment. 

 

She doesn’t hear the soft snoring until she gets closer to the bedroom. A slow smile spreads on her face and she doesn’t even try to fight it. Just as she expected, he’s curled up under the covers, cuddling her pillow with his mouth half-open and his eyes squeezed shut. She sees the bowl of soup on the nightstand that makes her cringe because...it’s so close to the bed. That’s when she sees the bottle of cold medicine open on the floor beside the bed. God, he’s so messy. 

 

But he’s sick. 

 

Which means, he isn’t going to be out doing Spider-Man stuff or doing actual work and she gets to sit at home and spend all her time with him. 

 

...And her nephew, but still!

 

She taps him gently on his forearm but that doesn’t wake him up so she’s about to flick him in the forehead but he jolts up almost immediately. 

 

Stupid spidey sense.

 

“Michelle?” he says, on high alert and then visibly relaxes when he realises she was the supposed threat. “How long have I been out?”

 

“Not long. I got home early,” she shrugs. 

 

He nods and then falls back on the bed, covering his eyes with his forearm, “Why did you wake me?”

 

“I promised to babysit Jason for a couple of days and my brother’s going to drop him off here in like an hour. So, I thought you should know.”

 

“Oh.”

 

_ Oh _ ? That’s all he has to say?

 

She clears her throat, “So, uh, you caught a cold?”

 

“I got hit with some weapon that slows down my healing powers and now I have a cold. I’ll be fine. You don’t have to stay. You can go.”

 

It sort of irritates her that he keeps pushing her away but she taps his hand awkwardly and leaves the room. She’s got a little nephew who’d love her company anyway.

 

Even after she’s cleaned up around the apartment and put all of Peter’s dangerous tech away, she still worries about him and runs out to get soup. She runs into her brother and her nephew on the way back to the apartment. They make light conversation and she watches as her brother hugs Jason, her nephew goodbye and thanks her for the thousandth time. 

 

Jason’s a good distraction from a husband who doesn’t even want anything to do with her. The more she thinks about it, the more she feels another fight coming on. She’s way too preoccupied with how great it feels to have a tiny hand clutching onto her own to think about Peter so that works. She makes mac and cheese for Jason which he insists she feed him, so that’s how they end up on her couch watching Monsters Inc. together as she literally feeds her nephew. What? It’s impossible to say no to his huge eyes. 

 

**_Friday, 19/6/2025_ **

**_7 pm_ **

  
  


Peter wakes up for the second time that day and the first thing he hears is the grumble of his very hungry, very angry stomach telling him that it wants food. Slowly, he makes his way to the bedroom door and he hears voices. That’s when he remembers about Jason and it nearly makes him not want to leave the room but he had a weaker willpower than he thought because eventually, he found himself unlocking the door and opening it ever so slightly to see them watching a movie. Then, he realised she was feeding him and he felt his heart ache just a little bit. 

 

After taking several photos on his phone and then spending 10 minutes mentally preparing himself to face MJ after all the avoiding he’s been doing, he clears his throat and they both turn their attention away from the TV to look at him instead. Jason pushes away the spoonful of mac and cheese MJ’s trying to feed him and it makes her drop it on her lap. He heads straight for Peter and hugs his knees. Peter laughs, “Easy, buddy. I’m sick.”

 

From the corner of his eye, he sees MJ wiping at her lap furiously with a tissue and rolling her eyes. He gulps when she stands up. “I’m gonna go change. Watch him, but don’t get too close.”

 

Peter nods and she walks into their bedroom, still wiping at her pants.

 

“Sick?” Jason asks, as Peter directs him to sit on the couch. 

 

“That’s right, buddy. I’ve got a cold,” Peter says, standing a little further away. 

 

“Foo-foo?” Jason asks, trying to say ‘flu’ but failing.

 

Peter nods, matching the look of horror on Jason’s face.

 

MJ enters the room wearing his flannel pajama pants, mumbling about how she hasn’t done the laundry yet. Jason spends the rest of the night sticking to Peter and ignoring MJ and it kinda sucks because at one point he sees MJ curled up on the sofa all alone, covered in a blanket as she stares at her computer with a blank expression on her face. 

 

Eventually, she shrugs on her faux leather jacket and puts on some shoes, announcing that she’s going out for a walk. Peter merely nods and watches her leave the house quietly. In a panic, he presses play on the movie so that Jason is distracted and calls Ned for advice. 

 

“What’s up?”

 

“I think I’ve made a horrible mistake.”

 

“Woah,” Ned laughs. “Are you ok? You voice sounds unusually deep.”

 

“I’ve got a cold. It’s a story that’s not as important as the one I’ve got to tell you now.”

 

“MJ trouble?” Ned guesses correctly. 

 

“You see, after we talked about it over coffee, it really hit me that something was wrong in my marriage. All this while I’ve been completely oblivious to it and I just didn’t know how to react so I did something stupid, and I’ve kinda been sorta...cold towards MJ?”

 

“ _ Cold?! _ ”

 

“I mean, I’ve been avoiding her and pushing her away without a proper explanation and now she’s kinda really mad at me but in the passive way and now we’re in a non-fight fight and I feel bad.”

 

“You  _ should _ feel bad, you dumbass!” 

 

“I do!”

 

“What made you think pushing her away would solve your problems? You are a horrible, horrible person!”

 

“I get it, Ned! Help me, please?”

 

“Talk to her about it! The answer is communication! It’s always communication!” Ned exclaims exasperatedly. Finally, he sighs, “I have to go now but the next time you call me better be to tell me that you’ve worked everything out.”

 

“Right. Will do. Thanks, Ned.”

 

MJ gets back a few minutes later with tea for him and he feels even more like an asshole. Jason knocks out on the couch after the movie ends and they sit on opposite ends of the couch. The tension is thick and he knows she’s feeling it too, even if she’s doing a pretty good job of acting nonchalant. He hates this kinda silence. The silence that always feels louder than ever. He’s thinking of a good way to start his apology when she gets up and attempts to carry the 2 year-old who’s actually a lot heavier than he looks.

 

“I’ll carry him.”

 

“You’re sick.”

 

“He’s had his flu shot. I checked.”

 

Peter puts him to bed in the cot they conveniently have in their apartment -so there might’ve been a pregnancy scare once, that may have resulted in some impulsive buying- and MJ watches him to make sure he doesn’t mess up. He turns to look at her, “MJ-”

 

“Can we not do this right now, Peter? I’m really tired of having to deal with you constantly pushing me away. Can we do this some other time when I’ve got the energy to deal with your shit?” she snaps, her voice still barely above a whisper as she retreats to their bed. 

 

He watches as she turns on her side, “Your cold medicine is in the drawer.”

 

With that, she reaches up and turns off the lamp. He’s glued to the floor as he watches her go to sleep. Never in his whole stupid life has he wanted to punch himself this badly. He’s the biggest idiot in the world.


	5. better off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WOW aha get ready for some ANGST yiKES AM I RIGHT

**_Sunday, 21/6/2025_ **

**_6:33 am_ **

 

She hugs Jason one last time and says goodbye to her brother before closing the door. She walks back into the bedroom, still half asleep and removes her dressing gown. She folds it carefully and places it on her nightstand before sliding under the covers and turning on her side. Just as she’s closing her eyes, she feels a strong arm wrap itself around her stomach and pull her to the middle of the bed. She feels Peter’s chest against her back and she lets out a content sigh even though she’s still furious at him and hasn’t been talking to him since Friday.

 

She feels his warm breath on the back of her neck, “I’m sorry, MJ.”

 

When she doesn’t respond, he takes it as his cue to continue, “For everything.”

 

She pats his hand that’s resting on her stomach, “I’m still mad at you. We’re doing this tomorrow.”

 

Peter sighs, loosening his grip around her but she keeps a firm hold on his hand and pulls him back to her, “You still have to hold me.”

 

She hears him chuckle against her shoulder, “Gladly.”

 

\--

 

She wakes up two hours later, feeling all warm and toasty. She turns around in Peter’s grip, so that she’s facing him and hooks her leg over his waist. She closes her eyes and nearly falls asleep when it hits her that she’s still mad at the son of a bitch. 

  
  


She pushes him away, “Wake up, asshole.”

 

Obviously, she’s not strong enough to move the big baby so she doesn’t really wake him. Instead, he turns on his side and holds her to him as if she’s a fucking teddy bear and continues sleeping. Normally, she’d be extremely flattered but she’s still angry and she doesn’t really think he knows he’s holding an actual real life person and not a stuffed toy. She raises her hand to flick his forehead and his eyes burst open and he holds her even tighter than super-humanly possible. Realising that she was the supposed threat, he lets go of her and rubs his eyes, “Why are you  _ always _ the threat?”

 

“Because I’m always mad at you, that’s why.”

 

“Right,” Peter says, as she watches her climb out of bed and get her clothes.

 

“Yeah. You’re not getting off the hook that easy.”

 

He sighs once she’s disappeared into the toilet and decides to get out of bed and make them breakfast. She comes out a half hour later and decides that she doesn’t want breakfast. Completely not getting the hint, Peter decides to go take a shower. When he steps out of the bedroom fully clothed, MJ curses his stupid, wet curly hair and steps up. 

 

“We need to talk.”

 

Peter sighs in relief, “We do.”

 

He makes himself a cup of coffee and joins her on the couch, “Look, MJ, I’m sorry I’ve been ignoring you. I just- you see, all this time I’ve kinda never noticed that there’s been a sorta strain on our relationship and then Ned pointed it out and I got all weird about it because I didn’t know what to do and Ned told me to talk to you about it and here we are. Having an adult conversation, like...adults...which we are.”

 

“Peter,” MJ winces, putting down her coffee mug. “I think we have a real problem and I need to take some time to figure things out.”

 

“Cool,” Peter nods, his eyes following her coffee mug and then meeting hers. “I’ll give you all the time you need, MJ.”

 

“Just to be clear, you know I mean...pausing,” she gestures between them. “Us.”

 

“Woah,” Peter says, jumping back as if she’s the fire and he’s burnt himself by getting too close. “You’re breaking up with me? You’re  _ divorcing  _ me?!”

 

“No!” she shakes her head, as if the very thought of them getting divorced is the craziest thing he’s ever said. “I’m just putting a pause on us.”

 

“Ok. Cool. Cool,” Peter nods, looking around their apartment. Finally, he looks back at her and the nervous expression on her face, “So, how would this ‘pause’ work, exactly?”

 

“Well, I mean, I guess I’ll go live somewhere else for a while and we won’t text each other and-”

 

“Damn it, Michelle! You’re describing a break-up!” Peter exclaims, running a hand through his hair frustratedly.

 

Peter stands up and places his hands on his hips. He looks down at her on the couch and chuckles, shaking his head, “I can’t believe you’d give up on us so easily. We hit a bump and you want to leave?!”

 

“That’s not what I’m doing, Peter! All I’m suggesting is some time apart!” 

 

“I’m over here trying to talk to you about us, Michelle! And...and you just want to quit? Is it that easy for you?” Peter asks, hurt and confused.

 

“You want to talk about us, Peter? Fine! We don’t talk anymore! The most we say to each other in an average week is about 20 sentences. All we do is not see each other for 12 hours and then fuck--- which we don’t even do anymore!”

 

Peter gives her a look of disbelief, “Is this about  _ sex? _ Because if it is, I’ll be-”

 

“No, Peter!” she rolls her eyes and sinks deeper into their couch. “It’s about how we’re not even a couple anymore! We’re roommates, at best!”

 

Peter doesn’t say anything so she carries on, “I was-- the other day, I lied to you. When I said I wanted to go out to buy tampons at 3 in the morning, I was lying. I broke our vows, Peter!”

 

“I know,” he nods solemnly.

 

“It- wait, you know?!”

 

“Larry told me that you spent like, a whole hour in the lounge staring off into space.”

 

“Damn it, Larry!” 

 

“I know, it sucks. I realised that we don’t even have time to talk anymore,” Peter says, sitting down. “And even if we do, we’re so wrapped up in our own lives that we just don’t...try.”

 

“I’m sorry about my job,” she speaks. “I know, sometimes it doesn’t seem worth it and you don’t see me for like, two days straight because of it. It’s just something I have to do. I can’t give up on my dream just yet.”

 

“I get it,” Peter nods. “I’m sorry I do the whole superhero thing more often than I should. I know it’s been like I went back to being my 15 year-old self. You know, always jumpy and ready to get out of school to save the world the first chance I get.”

 

“For what it’s worth,” she says, smiling down at her intertwined hands and looking at him. “I was head over heels for your 15 year-old ass.”

 

“Where did we go wrong, Michelle?” he sighs, putting an arm behind her on the sofa.

 

“Are we...maybe we’re just better off...” she doesn’t find it in her to be able to complete the sentence. Quietly, she leans into him and lays her head on his shoulder.

 

“I’m not happy, Michelle,” he says, looking down at his lap.

 

“I know, I’m sorry,” she sighs. “What are we going to do, Peter?”

 

“I guess...we’re gonna press pause on this.” 

 

“I guess we are.”

 

They stare at the coffee table in front of them for a while. Both of them wondering how they managed to fuck something up so bad that it has to come to this. To them breaking up. For good. MJ turns around and crawls onto his lap. 

 

“Peter,” she says, quietly, holding his face with both her hands. He refuses to look at her and she gently forces him to do so. She kisses him with every emotion she’s feeling. All the hurt, anger, frustration, disbelief is packed into one kiss. Eventually, he kisses her back and puts his hands on her hips to steady her. They know what they’re about to do is messy and will make things harder for both of them but they don’t care. 

 

She moves her hands to his belt and starts to unbuckle it, but she takes a moment to pause and look him in the eye, “I love you, Peter.”

 

“I’ll  _ always  _ love you, MJ.”


	6. spider-man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i've put you guys through too much pain i guess y'all deserve this

**_Saturday, 11/7/2025_ **

**_1:30 pm_ **

 

“You fucking idiot!” Ned says, holding up the divorce papers. 

 

“Ned-”

 

“When did you plan on telling me about this?!” he asks, demanding Peter’s attention.

 

“I- uh...when it was official?” Peter tries, keeping his distance from Ned.

 

“This is not what I meant by fixing it, Peter!” Ned says, flipping through the papers. “You’ve already signed it?!” 

 

Ned gasps, staring at his best friend’s signature on the cursed dotted line. “This is not happening. I’m not letting you do this,” Ned says, folding the papers into a tiny square and putting it in his pocket. 

 

“Wait, Ned! Ned, what are you doing?!” Peter yells out, but he’s already walking out of the front door.

 

Peter runs out of the kitchen, “Ned, get back here!”

 

The elevator’s out of service so he takes the stairs, which really isn’t a problem for him until he’s almost on the ground floor and he sees Ned running out of the elevator. That sneaky son of a bitch. 

 

“Ned!” he yells, again.

 

He watches as Ned looks behind him and yelps, running out of the apartment building and out onto the streets of New York. This is why he kept the stupid divorce from him in the first place. He’s faster than Ned, his speed is no match for the crowded streets of New York because he ends up losing Ned and his divorce papers. He curses to himself and runs out to the roof, stripping on his way. He leaves his clothes in a pile on the roof and swings into action.

 

“Karen! Do you have a visual on Ned?” he asks, swinging from building to building and scanning the crowds for his best friend. 

 

“Ned Leeds?”

 

“Yes! Remember the tracker I put on his phone? Can you tell me where he is?” he asks, breathlessly.

 

“Sure thing, Peter.”

 

“Thanks, Karen.”

 

“He appears to be at his apartment, Peter.”

 

Damn, he’s fast. “Got it. Thanks, Karen. What’s the fastest route to his apartment?”

 

He cuts Ned off at his apartment. He decides to crawl in through the windows, which takes quite a while since Ned’s on the 25th floor of the building. When he finally makes it through the window, Ned’s already entered the apartment and locked the door behind him. 

 

He tries to tackle Ned, “Give it to me!”

 

Ned holds it away from him, “There’s no chance in hell that I’m giving it to you.”

 

He shoots a web at the papers and snatches it from Ned, bragging about how he’s Spider-Man and nothing will ever get past him until-

 

“Peter?” he hears a very familiar voice say and it gets him distracted enough that Ned manages to steal the papers from him.

 

Then, it hits Ned. “MJ?” he frowns.

 

Peter pulls off his mask, “MJ.”

 

She’s sitting awkwardly on the couch with a cup of coffee in her hand and...and  _ god, she looks great. _ She always looks great. She’s got her hair up in a high ponytail and she’s wearing his flannel over a tank top and it makes his heart ache in a way that feels too real for him. 

 

“I- Hi,” he says, taking her in. 

 

She stands up and looks behind Ned in a panic as she walks over to them, “What are you idiots doing here?!”

 

Ned scoffs, “What are  _ we  _ doing?! What are you doing in my apartment?”

 

“Meeting your  fiancée who’s about to get here any minute for lunch!” she says with wide eyes as if Ned should know about this. 

 

“Oh,” Ned sucks in a breath. 

 

“Yes!” she says and Peter can’t help but think she looks adorable when she’s all worked up and panicked. 

 

She looks at Peter and the stupid smile on his face, “What are you smiling at, you idiot? Put you mask back on!”

 

“N-Nothing,” he coughs, looking at the mask in his hands. 

 

Ned smirks, “Whipped!”

 

“What was that?” 

 

“Nothing, Michelle.”

 

Just then, they hear the sound of keys jiggling in the doorknob and both Michelle and Ned exchange worried glances while Peter smiles down at his mask like the lovesick puppy he is. “Give me that!” she says, grabbing his mask and reaching up to put it on him because he’s got a few inches on her when he’s in the suit.

 

But she’s too late, because Betty’s already inside the house and Peter’s stupid lips are still not covered by the mask. Betty turns around and MJ comes up with only one thing to save her husband’s secret identity. 

 

She leans in and plants one on him. In her defense, it’s his fault for having his mouth so close to her.

 

Peter’s frozen for all of one second and then something overcomes him and he pulls her closer to him by her waist, losing himself in the kiss. He kisses her like he should’ve when they were together, like he was trying to tell her through the kiss that he was still helplessly in love with her and he was the dumbest man in the world for letting her go. He kisses her so hard that she thinks her mind goes blank and she loses all sense of her surroundings and the situation she’s in and all she knows is him. His name is right on the tip of her tongue when Ned steps in and clears his throat with a smirk. 

 

Reluctantly, she pulls away from him, still dazed from the kiss. She pulls his mask down so that it covers his face completely and turns around to face Betty. Peter’s still holding onto her waist so she doesn’t get too far away but she speaks before Betty’s able to make any dangerous assumptions, “Betty, the- the reason I wanted to meet up with you for lunch is because I- Peter and I are getting divorced because-”

 

“...Because she’s been having an affair with Spider-Man!” Ned finishes, the shit-eating grin on his face taunting both Peter and Michelle.

 

“Ned, honey,” Betty says. “You’re ok with this?”

 

“Of course, I am...not!” Ned says, his expression turning from happy to furious in a matter of seconds. “MJ, you left Peter for...what? For Spider-Man?! How could you do this to my best friend in the whole world?”

 

Betty spins around to face MJ and Ned gives them a wink and a thumbs up. Peter rolls his eyes from behind the mask. 

 

“MJ!” Betty exclaims, still in shock. “Do you even know who he is?!”

 

“I uh, don’t. Nope, I’m just...lovin’ on him. Spider-Man. Yep, without knowing his true identity,” MJ says, fidgeting around and tapping Peter’s chest to make it more believable. From behind Betty, Ned facepalms. 

 

“Sweetie, do you believe this?” she asks Ned.

 

“No, I don’t. I’m sorry, Mr. Spider-Man but I’ve known MJ since high school and there’s no one more perfect for her than my best friend, Peter Parker. MJ, you’re making the biggest mistake of your life divorcing this man...Peter, because I’ve been there for your entire relationship with him and I’ve seen you idiots break-up and fight because you’re too dumb to communicate with each other and work things out like normal humans.”

 

“Ned-”

 

“The point is, not only have I witnessed your relationship with Peter in its entirety, but I’ve also known you as a person and I know that I’ve never seen you as happy as you were when you were with him,” Ned continues.

 

“That’s not true,” MJ says, and it stings a little bit. “You knew we were unhappy, Ned.”

 

“Yes! Because you were in a rough patch! Every relationship goes through that! Even marriages. When Betty and I get married and hit a rough patch, I’m not going to decide we’re not meant for each other because we’re unhappy and serve her with divorce papers!” he says, looking right at Peter this time.

 

“That’s different! You and Betty are-”

 

“What? Meant for each other? And you and Peter aren’t? MJ, come on! You’re his soulmate, MJ. You’re who that dumbass is meant to be with! No one’s going to love you as much as he loves you, MJ. He’s too selfless and stubborn to admit that you’re both meant to be together. I know my idiot of a best friend! Hell, he knows that you’re it for him, that he’s never going to find someone else! He just doesn’t want you hurt because of his stupid moral compass, you of all people know what he’s like!”

 

“Relationships are hard work, MJ. Being happy is not everything! Just because you’re unhappy, it doesn’t mean that it’s not working out! The whole point of being in a relationship is for you to work through your shit together and fight for your happiness. You can’t just give up when you decide you’re unhappy with that person and for the record, you both were unhappy because you  _ weren’t  _ with each other, not because you were together.”

 

Betty looks at the expression on MJ’s face and the tears welling up in her eyes, “I’m sorry about him, MJ. I think you should leave with your friend.”

 

Ned ignores Betty, “I can only say  _ so much  _ to you both. It’s up to you to decide if you’re just going to be attempt to survive without him or if you’re going to go back to him and work your shit out, MJ.”

 

“We’re leaving,” MJ says firmly, grabbing Spider-Man’s hand and climbing out of the window. 

 

Both Ned and Betty watch as Spider-Man holds onto MJ and shoots a web at the nearest building, swinging her there. 

 

“I hope those two work things out,” Betty sighs, staring at the window.

 

“Those two?” Ned laughs nervously. “I’m rooting for Peter, not Spider-Man.”

 

Betty looks over at her fiancé and rolls her eyes, “Oh, give it up, Ned. I know that’s Peter.”

 

“What?! There’s no way that’s Peter! Have you seen him, he- okay fine. What gave it away?” Ned sighs, flopping down onto the couch.

 

“The supposed affair,” Betty scoffs. “Anyone who knows MJ knows she’s been in love with Peter Parker since freshman year of high school. Anyone who knows them knows they’re meant to be together. There’s no way MJ would leave him for someone else. In her eyes, he’s the greatest guy she’s ever known. Not even Spider-Man would come close. And come on, that kiss? She’d only kiss Peter like that.”

 

Ned melts, “You’re so smart. I love you.” He pulls out the divorce papers from his back pocket, “And besides, I still have this.”

 

Betty laughs, “I love you, Ned Leeds.”


	7. love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> im sorry i made yall suffer for 5 long ass chapters i hope this is what y'all wanted !!! and it doesn't suck hopefully!!
> 
> also thank you for all the love and the comments and kudos and asks on tumblr and mentions on twitter gfghj i love yall so muchhhhhh

**_Saturday, 11/7/2025_ **

**_3 pm_ **

 

When Peter finally reaches their apartment, or well, his apartment, she pulls away from him and stares at him until she gets his attention, “What?”

 

“What were you so moody for?” she asks, as he helps her into the apartment through the window. Once she’s safely inside, Peter climbs in and closes the window behind him. 

 

“I wasn’t moody! I barely spoke!” he pulls off his mask and tosses it on the couch. 

 

“I know when you’re moody, you were mumbling something under your breath and you kept freezing up every time I touched you,” Michelle says, in that know-it-all way that usually pisses him off during fights but oddly, he finds himself thinking about how much he missed her being a smartass all the time. Obviously, he doesn’t say it to her.

 

“It’s just,” he sighs, walking into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. “Karen was lecturing me.” 

 

He glares at the mask that’s discarded on the couch as if it was Karen giving him a lecture about winning Michelle back and pulling up evidence of how his heart rate seemed to increase every time he was around her whenever he would make some sort of noise of disagreement. MJ, on the other hand, finds this new information very interesting.

 

She walks to the kitchen counter, “Wow, you must’ve messed up big time for Karen to lecture you. She rarely does that.”

 

There’s that tone again. Almost as if she knows exactly what Karen was lecturing him about and she found it amusing. 

 

“You’d be surprised,” is all he says, before turning away to put his glass in the sink. He doesn’t see the disappointed frown on MJ’s face.

 

“So,” she says, sitting on the couch. “Are we gonna talk about what happened back there?”

 

“Oh. You see, Ned saw the divorce papers and I didn’t tell him about it because— well, obviously. Ned loves us together, I had to break the news to him like, you know, differently. So, he found them and overreacted and then tried to run away with the papers but I got it and then— shit.”

 

“What?” MJ asks, a little amused at his rambling. She bites her bottom lip, trying to supress the smile that’s growing on her face because of her adorable husband.

 

“I- it’s just,” he groans and sinks deeper into the couch. “You were there and I got distracted and I forgot all about Ned and the divorce papers and-“

 

“Relax, weirdo,” she says, shoving him. “I don’t care about that.”

 

The nickname takes him back to high school. Back to when he thought she would never like him back because she was single-handedly the coolest person he’d ever met (Avengers included). 

 

“You...don’t?” he asks, tilting his head to look at her.

 

“I was talking about the…” she trails off and he knows what’s coming because she’s getting all flustered. 

 

“The kiss,” he nods.

 

“Yep.”

 

“You’re a good kisser,” he blurts. “I mean, obviously. It uh-“

 

“I know I’m a good kisser. I meant, what did that kiss mean? You know, for us?”

 

“Oh.”

 

They fall into a silence where they’re both thinking of the next words to say. Did it mean everything, or was it just to keep him from blowing his cover?

 

Michelle decides to avoid it completely even though she was the one who brought it up, “I’m sorry I gave up on us.”

 

“You didn’t-“

 

“No,” she shakes her head. “I did. I was scared and I didn’t want either of us to get hurt so I gave up because it was the easiest thing to do. It wasn’t the easiest thing. These past few weeks without you have been some of the hardest weeks of my life. It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever come up with.”

 

“Michelle,” Peter sighs. “Maybe...it wasn’t stupid. Look, I had a lot of time to think about us and I love you so much. You know I love you so much that it physically hurts because of my enhanced senses. It would actually  _ kill  _ me if anyone ever hurt you— whether it’s one of my supervillain enemies or me. I think maybe, it’s better if we just go through with the divorce.”

 

“Not this again,” she groans. “Peter! I’m hurting because I don’t have you with me! I  _ need  _ you!”

 

“You’ll get used to it and it’ll be for the better-“

 

“You dumbass! Why do you have to be so selfless all the time?” she yells, getting riled up even quicker than usual.

 

And Peter?

 

Well, he loses it.

 

“I’m so  _ sick  _ of both you and Ned giving me shit for being selfless. You want to know why I’m selfless, Michelle? Because I was selfish once and what did I get out of it? I killed my uncle! My uncle died and my aunt lost her husband because I was a selfish piece of shit!”

 

She opens her mouth to speak but no words come out.

 

“And the last thing I want, Michelle, is for something to happen to you because I’m too selfish to let you go! It would kill me, Michelle! It would-“

 

But he doesn’t get to finish because tears are already streaming out of his eyes and he ends up choking on his words. Michelle catches him in her arms before he collapses on the floor and lets him sob into her neck. She strokes his hair and cradles him back and forth.

 

Once he’s quieted down a little, she speaks, “What’s going on, Peter?”

 

“Ever since you left, I’ve been having my uh…my nightmares again.”

 

“Oh, Peter,” she sighs, holding him tighter.

 

“They’re so real,” he says, his voice breaking. “I don’t want to lose you, MJ. Please?” 

 

“I’m not going anywhere, Peter.” 

 

They stay like that, Michelle holding him in her arms for a while. She lets go of him eventually so that he can change out of his suit and take a shower. When she’s alone, she thinks about him breaking down in her arms and her heart breaks a little bit more. She ends up joining him in the shower.

 

When Peter gives her a weak, but surprised smile, she says, “I can’t leave you.”

 

They climb into bed together and she’s caught off guard for a second when Peter immediately wraps his arms around her and pulls her towards him. 

 

“I thought I was going to be the big spoon,” she jokes as he rests his hands on her stomach.

 

“I just wanna hold you,” he mumbles into the crook of her neck. 

 

They don’t go to sleep, though. They talk about their situation and they both promise to be better at communicating. Quietly, they work their problems out without getting in a fight. He promises to go easy on the Spider-Man thing. She promises to not let her career get in the way of them. 

 

They both promise to always be there for each other.

 

They spend the rest of the night talking about everything that they’ve missed out on in each other’s lives. She tells him about her job kicking her ass. He tells her about his new project for Stark. 

 

That night, they both go to sleep happier than they were on their wedding night. 

  
  
  


**_Sunday, 12/7/2025_ **

**_12 pm_ **

 

“Ned!” Peter’s eyes widen in surprise when he opens the front door to see his best friend on the other side. “What are you- what are you doing here?”

 

Ned pulls out a folded piece of paper from his jean pocket with a deep sigh, “It was wrong of me to just take it from you. I just assumed that you were being stupid and that MJ was the greatest thing to ever happen to you and you were letting her go because-“

 

“Nevermind,” Ned shakes his head and hands the paper to Peter. “I’m sorry.”

 

Peter looks at the crumpled, coffee-stained, smudged piece of paper between his fingertips. He cringes, “It looks kinda...destroyed.”

 

“I actually was in the middle of destroying it when I realised- wait a minute.”

 

Ned pushes past him and walks into the apartment.

 

“Ned? What are you doing?” Peter sighs, leaning against the door as he watches his best friend sniff around his apartment.

 

He holds his hands behind his back as he squints his eyes at every object in his apartment. Then, he spins around and squints at Peter suspiciously.

 

“Oh my god! You’re back together with MJ!” he says, snatching the divorce papers from Peter.

 

“What?” Peter says in his high voice. “Why would you- how would you even know that?!”

 

“Look at you, Peter! Ugh, you’re glowing!”

 

“I’m not-“

 

“And that’s MJ’s scarf!”

 

“Alright. Fine, we’re back together,” Peter admits. “Gimme that,” he says, trying to snatch the divorce papers.

 

“What? No! Why would you even want that?” Ned says, holding it away from him.

 

“I wanted to cut it into tiny little pieces,” Peter says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

 

“Peter, please,” Ned scoffs. “Did you really thing I would actually give you the divorce papers?”

 

“It’s not the…?”

 

“Of course, it isn’t! It’s just a bunch of graphs that I ruined,” Ned says, opening it up.

 

“Then, where are the real papers?”

 

“I obviously burned them,” Ned says, rolling his eyes. “So, when do we get to go on double dates again?”

 

“What’s going on?” MJ yawns, decked head to toe in Peter’s clothing.

 

Ned smirks at Peter and runs over to hug MJ, “I knew you weren’t an idiot!”

 

“He knows?” she asks Peter, looking over Ned’s shoulder as she hugs him back. 

 

“Of course, he knows!” Peter smiles.

 

“Get in here, Peter!” Ned says, waving him over to join the hug. 

 

“If you guys ever try to break up again, I will literally kill both of you. I’m not joking,” Ned warns, as Peter wraps his arms around both Ned and MJ.

 

Peter smiles up at MJ, “That’s not happening anytime soon.”

 

MJ looks up from the hug and matches the grin on his face, “It isn’t.”

 

Ned hangs out with them for a little while after that before announcing that he has a lunch date with Betty to get to. Everything is fine up until Ned freezes at the doorway. 

 

“Also, Betty figured out that you’re Spider-Man yesterday and you shouldn’t worry about it because she isn’t working at the Daily Bugle anymore because she got a job with The New York Times like a week ago. Okay, bye,” Ned blurts, before running out of the apartment. 

 

Both of them remain rooted to their spot until Peter snaps out of it, “I’m going to kill him.”

 

“Please,” she rolls her eyes, pulling him inside by the collar of his t-shirt and slamming the door shut. “It was only a matter of time before she found out. Also, you heard him; she’s got a new job now.”

 

“I can’t believe he talked to us for the longest time and only told us at the last second,” Peter says, sitting down on the couch and looking at her in disbelief.

 

“I don’t know...that’s a pretty Ned thing to do,” she shrugs. 

 

Peter frowns, “I can’t believe you’re not even a little irritated. Are you okay, MJ?”

 

MJ sighs. She’s really about to do this. She remains standing. 

 

“No, but only because I’ve been keeping something from you.”

 

Peter’s face falls and MJ focuses on the couch Peter’s sitting on instead of the man himself, “It happened during our uh...break-up.”

 

“Uh huh…”

 

“I’m just going to warn you,” MJ nods. “Because I know you don’t like hearing about Harry but he’s kind of in this story, just a little bit. Now that I think about it, he doesn’t even play a big role.”

 

At the mention of his name, Peter cringes. Michelle takes that as her cue to just get on with it. She takes a deep breath to prepare herself for what’s about to happen next.

 

“Alright so, I was really upset over our break-up. I was really confused too, because you know, I thought we weren’t meant to be. It still felt so wrong even though I kept convincing myself that it was the decision I was supposed to make. So, I was just flat out confused and that day, Harry was at work. So, obviously, he spent half the day by my desk, hitting on me. He saw that I had no ring on and started talking about when we used to date back in high school. I didn’t really pay him much attention, at first.”

  
  


She realises she’s starting to beat around the bush and forces herself to get to the point. 

 

“But it started to get annoying so I was going to say something but I ended up throwing up all over his expensive shoes.”

 

“Nice, MJ!” Peter grins, holding his palm out for a high-five. 

 

“I’m not finished,” MJ frowns. “So, because Harry is actually a decent person sometimes, he didn’t make me pay for his shoes. He actually helped me get the rest of the day off and drove me back to his apartment.”

 

MJ describes it in detail for him.

 

_ “Thanks, Harry,” she says, weakly as she walks into his ridiculously huge apartment. _

 

_ “I’m not always a dick, you know,” Harry says, heading straight for the kitchen to get her a bottle of water. “I’m just playing.” _

 

_ “Your playing around can be  _ _ very annoying _ _ ,” MJ says, lying back on the couch. “So annoying that it triggered my gag reflexes.” _

 

_ “Easy,” Harry teases, smirking at her as he sets the bottle of water in front of her. “You’re still in my apartment.” _

 

_ She takes a sip of water and rolls her eyes, “It’s the truth and you know it.” _

 

_ “There’s no way you threw up because of me,” Harry chuckles, standing up to go get something from his bag. _

 

_ “Life finds a way, Osborn.” _

 

_ Harry walks over to her, hiding something behind him, “I don’t think this is one of those times, Jones.” _

 

_ He sits down, grinning at her so hard that it annoys her. _

 

_ “What are you hiding?” MJ says, leaning back instinctively.  _

 

_ From behind him, he pulls out a white plastic bag and throws it at her. She catches it and reluctantly takes a look inside. She groans in disgust and pulls out the object, “Condoms? Really?!’ _

 

_ She throws it at him and he laughs, catching it with his hands. He grabs the bag from her and removes all the condoms with a sheepish expression, “Sorry, that’s mine.” _

 

_ “Jesus Christ! How many condoms do you need?!” she frowns. “I think I’m gonna be sick,” she says and runs into his bathroom.  _

 

_ She’s kneeling on the floor and facing his toilet bowl with her hair tied up in a bun when he catches up with her. She looks up at him, “False alarm. It was just phlegm.” _

 

_ “Here,” he says, tossing a box down at her. “I don’t actually want to get into your pants, you know. I flirt with you because I miss you. When you tell Peter about this, you better explain everything to him in detail and tell the nerd to get over what happened in high school. I don’t want his precious MJ anymore. I want my friends back.” _

 

_ With that, he closes the door behind him. She looks at the box in her hand.  _

 

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about it yesterday. I just thought it would be...too much to deal with but here goes. He gave me a pregnancy test, Peter. I’m pregnant. You’re gonna be a dad.”

 

Peter looks up at her in shock. 

 

He looks at her and then down at her belly with his mouth open wide. Then, he points at her belly, “Y-you’re…?”

 

MJ nods, trying to guess his reaction. Would it be too soon? Especially after everything they just went through-

 

Peter responds by jumping a little too high up and doing multiple flips around the room until he ends up stuck upside down on the ceiling. When he tries to let go, he finds himself glued to the ceiling, “MJ, I think I’m stuck.”

 

She cocks her head to the side, smiling at him, “I’m trying to read the room. How are we feeling about this bomb I just dropped on you?”

 

“You’re pregnant, MJ! Oh my God, I’ve wanted this since high school!”

 

“You’ve wanted to impregnate me since high school?” she laughs.

 

“Kinda? I meant, I’ve been dreaming of spending the rest of my life with you and having our own little kid since high school! Get over here!”

 

She laughs and tip-toes to grab his face with both of her hands. She kisses him, having to break away because she’s smiling so hard. 

 

“We’re gonna have a baby,” she smiles, her eyes welling up with tears. 

 

Peter kisses her again and ends up falling from the ceiling, “I love you so much, MJ.”

 

“I love you more, Peter.”

 

“Not possible,” Peter shakes his head, holding her hand. 

 

She bites her bottom lip, “Let’s just agree to disagree.”

 

“We’re going to have a tiny human that’s part you and part me!” Peter smiles, buzzing with excitement. She can’t help but think that the man before her reminds her so much of the boy she fell head over heels in love with back in high school. 

 

From then on, they both know they’re going to be alright.

 

Because when Peter gets nightmares about their daughter, she’s there to hold him and tell him that everything’s going to be okay. And when MJ has her doubts about becoming just like her parents, Peter’s there to tell her that she’s the greatest person he’s ever known and there’s no way she’ll ever end up like them. And when little baby May Parker is born 9 months later and she sees Peter holding her in his arms for the first time, she gets an overwhelming feeling of love for the sight in front of her.

 

Yeah, they’re going to be  _ just fine. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> peter's reaction is based on the comics it MELTED MYHEART
> 
> anyway because it isn't listed down below: you can talk to me on my curious cat @/curlytommo
> 
> so comment and tell me what u think i hope yall liked it this is my longest chapter it was the worst to edit and i'm sorry if the ending is the worst i literally hate it so much i feel like this started out kinda okay then the writing got better when it came to ned- you know what i think i'm only good at writing when it comes to ned because it's like writing myself into the fic i love ned so much i can't wait to see him in ffh ok bye

**Author's Note:**

> listen. i tried. 
> 
> and it's a multichapter so don't yell at me
> 
> floofyparker on twitter  
> softboyholland on tumblr
> 
> if you do wanna yell at me anyway, yell at me over there


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